Project 2’s Rita Loch-Caruso received the Mentorship Award at the 2019 Society of Toxicology Meeting

In March at the 2019 Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting Project 2 Leader Rita Loch-Caruso was presented with the Women in Toxicology Mentorship Award. From Saturday, March 9th to Thursday March 14th, PROTECT researchers attended the 58th Annual SOT Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland where Rita received this recognition after being secretly nominated by 22 of her current and past mentees who all worked in Rita’s lab, some as early as 1992!

When asked about why she was nominated her mentees explained, “Throughout Dr. Loch-Caruso’s career, she has consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to her students, skillfully guiding them through their educational journeys and beyond.  As a mentor, she promotes students’ scientific interests and creativity, encouraging them to develop their own hypotheses and experiments.  She also provides guidance on productivity and time management, regularly meeting with her students to discuss their progress.  Dr. Loch-Caruso consistently challenges her students, asking them to explain the scientific theories behind their research, methods and conclusions, responding with thoughtful questions that promote critical thinking development. In addition to the research aspects of mentoring, Dr. Loch-Caruso also strongly encourages her students to develop other skills vital to a successful career as a scientist including: grant-writing, networking, publishing, communication skills and most importantly, building confidence in their ability to become independent toxicologists.”